Sunday Week 6 featured the Cowboys blown out at home again, Lamar Jackson’s Ravens outlasting Jayden Daniels’ Commanders, starting debuts from not one but two rookie quarterbacks, and another rookie QB continuing to climb fast.
SLAYYYYYYYY
📺: @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/pyRPzM7rmM
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 13, 2024
The Athletic NFL writers Tim Graham, Mike Jones and Ted Nguyen share their thoughts on all of these storylines and more.
Going back to January’s wild-card playoff game, that’s four straight home losses for the Cowboys (in which they were outscored 110-35 in the first half). Is it panic time in Dallas?
Graham: Absolutely. It’s not just that they’re losing, but how thoroughly they’re getting obliterated. Although the Lions are a great team, the Cowboys should never look like they don’t belong on the same field as an opponent, especially when playing on their own field. Sunday was the second time already an opponent moseyed into AT&T Stadium and nearly hit 50 points. The Saints scored six touchdowns in Week 2, and the Lions lumped them up even worse. It will be difficult for Mike McCarthy to scapegoat defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer when the offense is so putrid. Since beating the abysmal Browns on opening day, the Cowboys’ best offensive performance was a valiant finish after being down 22 points in the fourth quarter against the Ravens.
Nguyen: Depends on what your expectations were before the season. If you thought this Cowboys team was a Super Bowl contender, then panic. If you thought this would be a .500 team because they have stars but no depth, and would be up-and-down all season, remain calm. Their offensive line has struggled to run block and pass protect and they were dealing with injuries. Their run defense is terrible. Dallas adjusted by loading the box on Sunday and it helped for a bit, but they were going against the most physical offensive line in the league and got mollywhopped. They’ll pull off an upset when they’re healthy and they’ll get dismantled again. With the “all-in” roster that the Joneses built, that’s just how it’s going to be all season.
Jones: Yes. This was a measuring stick game for the Cowboys, and they clearly are not on the same level as the Lions, who rank among the league’s elite teams. Jerry Jones always seems to think his team is a Super Bowl contender, but Detroit should have erased any such thoughts on Sunday; they had their way with Dallas on both sides of the ball. The pressure on Mike McCarthy is now at an all-time high. He needs to do a lot of soul searching during this bye week, not to mention go over his team’s entire operation with a fine-toothed comb and figure out what’s missing. The Cowboys have key injuries on defense, but they certainly have the talent on both sides of the ball to compete at a higher level than what we’re seeing. Up next after their bye: back-to-back road games against San Francisco and Atlanta (who both look like playoff teams), then home games against Philadelphia and Houston. This thing could get ugly in a hurry.
Are we living through another Lamar Jackson MVP season?
Jones: Jackson is a perennial MVP candidate. He makes the Ravens legit contenders in the AFC every season, and this year will be no different. So, yes, if Baltimore winds up with one of the top seeds in their conference and look like Super Bowl contenders, we certainly could see him repeat as MVP. But, I will say, the addition of Derrick Henry to the offense to lighten Jackson’s rushing load could prompt him to lose some votes. (I’d also still like to see the Ravens figure out how to add another receiving threat before the trade deadline to make that offense even more explosive). However, if the addition of weapons like Henry and others translates into a deep playoff run and a long-craved Super Bowl victory, Jackson would gladly trade that for another MVP award.
Graham: Perhaps the main reason Jackson won the MVP last year over Josh Allen was that Baltimore didn’t swoon, while many of us wondered what happened to Buffalo’s offense well into November. Allen started this season afire, earning AFC Offensive Player of the Month, but back-to-back losses in which he needed to be scraped off the turf a couple times allowed Jackson back in the race. Baltimore’s offense is a wagon. Allen doesn’t have anybody like Derrick Henry to help carry the load, but Jackson looked intergalactic against the streaking Commanders on Sunday. A week after lighting up Cincinnati, he threw just six incomplete passes while rolling up 323 yards in the air and a TD, and rushing eight times for 40 yards before killing out the clock. Your move, Josh.
Nguyen: Jackson is certainly one of the front runners. He’s been remarkably efficient this season, throwing 9 touchdowns to only one interception. He also is one of the most productive runners in the league, among quarterbacks and running backs (it does hurt Jackson’s MVP statline that Derrick Henry has hawked a few of his touchdowns at the goal line). The Ravens look like they’ll finish as a top seed in the AFC and they’ll have one of the top offenses. Stats, wins, and a top offense are usually the makings of an MVP campaign.
Did convincing road wins by the Steelers (in Vegas) and Chargers (in Denver) do anything to convince you that either of those teams could move to “AFC dark horse contender” status?
Jones: These performances didn’t change the way I view either team. The Broncos aren’t very good; the Chargers, who are better than Denver, should have won that game. I don’t know that the Chargers can sneak into the postseason, though. As far as Pittsburgh goes, the Raiders are awful — the Steelers should have beaten them handily. I believed prior to this game that the Steelers are a wild-card team. They’re not a dark horse to win the AFC, though; although they scored 32 points and dominated the Raiders statistically, they don’t have the offensive firepower to match the elite teams in the conference.
Graham: Not the Chargers, but I’m now convinced Mike Tomlin has special powers. Entering the season, Pittsburgh projected as the AFC North’s fourth-best team with a quarterback problem; now, they might wake up in the morning three games ahead of Cincinnati and Cleveland. Justin Fields has displayed deeper prowess than a mere reclamation project. Las Vegas is an organization in turmoil, but winning 32-13 on the road is difficult, and I know Ted will astutely point out the game was closer than it looked because of mistakes, but the Raiders didn’t score their second touchdown until fourth-quarter garbage time. Tomlin’s team always has a high floor, but I didn’t expect these Steelers to be playoff-caliber. They’re proving me wrong in that regard, but they’ll need a signature win over a top-notch opponent before I’m ready to overlook losses to the Colts and Cowboys and give the Steelers “conference contender” status.
Nguyen: The Steelers game was closer than the score looked. The Raiders had multiple opportunities, but every time there was a critical play Vegas shot themselves in the foot (two roughing the passer penalties after third-down stops, an illegal man downfield penalty on a touchdown, a fumble on the 1-yard line). This was just a game that the Steelers typically win. I was a little more impressed with the Chargers’ win, but it was against a weak opponent. L.A.’s defense is legit; they held Bo Nix to 22 yards passing in the first half. As Justin Herbert continues to heal from his lower body injuries, this offense will continue to improve. Both teams weren’t overly impressive but they both have enough in their arsenals to potentially upset one of the top-seeded teams.
How do we view the Chicago Bears after six games? Is this a NFC North contender, wild-card contender, or team that’s just beating up on not-particularly-strong opponents?
Graham: I didn’t come here, lookin’ for trouble. I just came to put these Bears on muffle. They’ve been exceptional the past three weeks, but let’s not overlook the lack of resistance. Those opponents (Rams, Panthers, Jaguars) had a combined 3-13 record (heading into the Panthers’ 4:25 p.m. ET game against the favored Falcons). All three teams ranked among the bottom-four in points allowed, while the Rams and Jaguars owned the weakest defenses in yards allowed per play. I’ll need to see the Bears go off against an NFC North rival before I’m convinced they can win the division, and that test won’t come for another month. That said, Caleb Williams has been a blast to watch, coming a couple inches away from a five-touchdown performance. He is exploiting actual NFL defenders — don’t take that for granted with any rookie — and building confidence at a critical time in his and his organization’s development.
Jones: The Bears definitely should draw encouragement from the steady progress that Caleb Williams and the offense have exhibited these last three games. Chicago offensive coordinator Shane Waldron finally figured out that a steady rushing attack is a young quarterback’s best friend — the Bears are averaging 137 rushing yards per game during this win streak, and with some pressure eased off of his shoulders Williams has had his best three games of the season. The offensive line also has played better. That being said, I don’t see the Bears as contenders for the NFC North title. Wild Card contender? It’s still a little early to say that as well. It’s important to note that these last three defenses Chicago faced ranked among the worst in the league. But this was the stretch the Bears needed to find themselves. The true test will come in mid-November when the Bears face Green Bay, Minnesota and Detroit in consecutive weeks. If they emerge from that having won two of three, then we can view them as contenders for a playoff berth.
Nguyen: The most important thing for the Bears is that Caleb Williams has made steady improvements in every single game. Of course, it does help playing the three worst defenses in the league consecutively (Rams, Panthers, Jaguars), but you can see him getting more comfortable going through his progressions and using his eyes to manipulate the defense. Against the Jaguars on Sunday, his feet were calm and he threw a couple of dimes into tight windows to Keenan Allen for touchdowns. Williams is giving a preview of what he could be with better pass protection. Fortunately for the Bears, they’ll have a bye week followed by games against two more weak defenses (Commanders and Cardinals). The hope is that he uses these games to build his confidence for later in the season, when he’ll have a murderers row in front of him starting in Week 10. The Bears defense has also been phenomenal and will keep them in games even when Williams will inevitably struggle, as all rookies do.
After Sunday’s performance, and considering the situation when it comes to supporting cast, are you in favor or against the Patriots’ decision to go to Drake Maye now?
Nguyen: I was against it because the Patriots’ offensive line is one of the worst — if not the worst — pass-blocking lines in the league, and we’ve seen so many young quarterbacks become shell-shocked after playing behind bad offensive lines. Maye also needed to refine his footwork and it’s hard to do that when you constantly have to throw off your back foot. However, Maye was impressive on Sunday, and his ability as a runner was big for the Patriots. New England never really threatened the Texans, so he got more vanilla looks on defense. Maye is obviously a lot more athletic than Jacoby Brissett so I understand the desire to start him, but hopefully he doesn’t develop bad habits behind this line.
Graham: The Patriots’ 2024 campaign always has been a hard reboot, and they must stick to that plan. No matter how vulnerable the Dolphins and Jets look, the Patriots can’t get okey-doked into cutting corners just because, if they squint, they can imagine some longshot path to the postseason. Maye is the future, not Jacoby Brissett. The only reason not to start Maye by now would be if his health were in danger, and although the Texans sacked him four times (Will Anderson got him thrice) and hit him five other times, Maye looked the part despite a menagerie of mostly pedestrian playmakers. His best highlight was his first NFL touchdown, a gorgeous, 40-yard strike to Kayshon Boutte. Yes, he committed three turnovers, but Maye passed for 243 yards and three TDs and, minus Rhamondre Stevenson, led the Patriots with 38 rushing yards. A great first start to build off of.
Jones: Maye did some good things on Sunday. He recorded three touchdown passes and helped the Patriots score a season-high 21 points. (Sad when 21 points is a season high, and Jacoby Brissett had only two touchdown passes total in five starts.) My issue with switching to Maye was, I didn’t agree with the decision to give him his first start against a tough Texans defense. The struggling Dolphins last week or the woeful Jaguars next week would have been more favorable situations for a young quarterback than going against a playoff squad like Houston. Maye threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. He also was sacked four times. So, it was a rough day, although there were some bright spots. The Patriots’ problems run far deeper than quarterback. They can’t protect any quarterback, and the line also struggled to pave the way for a productive rushing attack. New England’s defense also has a lot of issues. So, if the Patriots went to Maye believing he would change the fortunes of their season, they were kidding themselves. If they switched because they figure they’re not going anywhere and would benefit next year from Maye getting as many game reps as possible this season, then this was the move to make.
Speaking of rookie quarterbacks, do you think the Saints have something in Spencer Rattler?
Graham: Rattler was a lot of fun to watch. For a fifth-round pick, he acquitted himself well despite falling apart a bit toward the end with a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions. (For the record, Baker Mayfield was picked off three times Sunday before Rattler threw his first as a pro.) Rattler was strong enough to help the Saints overcome a 17-point deficit at the start of the second quarter with 20 straight points against an always-tricky Todd Bowles defense; New Orleans eventually held a 27-24 lead deep into the third quarter. Derek Carr remains the starter when healthy, but the Saints might have their quarterback of the future with the proper development plan.
Nguyen: Rattler flashed traits that are hard to teach while playing for a bad South Carolina team, like deep-ball aggression and pocket toughness. Those traits flashed in his debut, but there was too much to overcome against an exotic Todd Bowles defense. Chris Olave, his best receiver, was also hurt early in the game and didn’t return. Also, the Saints are missing some offensive-line starters, so pass protection was an issue. I think we don’t nearly have enough of a sample size to make any real judgment on Rattler, but he did some encouraging things on Sunday.
Jones: I do think the Saints have something in Rattler, their fifth-round pick out of South Carolina, who during his early days at Oklahoma was viewed as a future first-round pick. Full disclosure: One of my bold predictions entering the season was that Rattler would wind up taking Derek Carr’s job this season. So, Rattler showing promise like he did Sunday doesn’t surprise me. He should be able to help the Saints remain competitive for the next three to four weeks while Carr is sidelined if his coaches remain smart with his workload and don’t put too much on his plate. His inexperience could also cause New Orleans to come up short here and there, so we just have to wait and see how this plays out before we start discussing whether the Saints should stick with Rattler over a healthy Carr. The bigger concern is the Saints’ defense, which surrendered 600 yards and 50 points and allowed the Bucs to convert 6 of 10 third downs. It doesn’t matter who plays quarterback — the Saints defense has to put up some resistance.
(Top photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)